Shortlisted
Gobi and the Desert
Dulwich College Beijing, Michael Lu, 7
M
illions and millions of years ago, I was still a young jungle with no name. I was
made out of rows and rows of lush green trees and rich fertile grasslands. On my
sturdy backside lay a village, it provided shelter for a few hundred families. The red
roofs were battered broken and bent with rain, the windows were cracked, and the
doors were scratched.
Cruel carnivorous half-dinosaur half-lizard creatures called Dezards roamed freely on me,
and I couldn’t stop them from destroying the beautiful landscape on my back. They had malicious
green spikes on their backs, crooked yellow teeth, and their eyeballs were red with greed. They
forced the poor starving villagers to present one boy and one girl every year as sacrificial goods,
or else they threatened to trample the village. I was desperate to save the children, yet I couldn’t
do anything to help the villagers!
It was that day of the year again for villagers to offer a boy and a girl to the Dezards. All
the villagers gathered together in the meeting square before dawn. The children were huddled in
semicircles around a platform made out of wood.
Everyone grew hushed as the fat chief mounted the stage. He solemnly took out a handful of
straws and asked all the boys to take a straw from his hand, whoever picked the shortest straw
was to be sacrificed. Small hands grabbed at the handful of straws, and then sighed in relief as
they realized they weren’t chosen. Finally, a large plump boy gasped as he drew away the shortest
straw, his eyes grew wide with terror and he started trembling from head to toe. His mother,
watching anxiously from the sidelines, screamed and fainted. The same thing happened to the
girls.
The two unlucky children walked silently towards the edge of the village, clutching tightly
to their parents’ hands. They knew that shortly, they would meet the Dezards and face death. A
steady drizzle poured down on the villagers, as if even the heavens were mourning for the two
children that were to be lost. Even though it was summer everyone shuddered like it was winter.
Then, mysteriously, the grey clouds overhead took shape of an old man. Suddenly, before
the villagers could express their surprise, an old man whom the villagers had never seen before
appeared in the crowd. He had wispy white hair that was unevenly cut and two front teeth that
made him look like an over-grown rabbit. However, his eyes shone with wisdom and knowledge,
and the villagers immediately grew silent, as they knew he was to be respected.
The man said, “My name is Gobi, and I have heard of your unhappy situation. I think that I
can save your village with my powers. Why don’t you sacrifice me instead?”
Although the villagers were unsure, Gobi stood firm. At last, the villagers had to give in. Gobi
walked silently to the edge of the village, where the sacrificial children stood. He pushed them
aside and disappeared in the mist.
POOF! All of a sudden, my precious land shook and trembled, like a fragile dandelion in a
ferocious storm. After that, faint rumbling sounds were heard. I was shocked to see that lava was
gushing out of my back. I also heard cries and shouts of confusion as the terrified Dezards ran for
their lives. Soon, they disappeared. Then, all my green trees disappeared, leaving dust and sand.
As soon as Gobi walked calmly back to the village, my people rushed forward, showering him
